Matteo Liberatore

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Matteo Liberatore (born at Salerno, Italy, 14 August 1810; died at Rome, 18 October 1892) was an Italian Jesuit philosopher, theologian, and writer.

[edit] Life

He studied at the College of the Jesuits at Naples in 1825, and a year later applied for admission into the Society of Jesus, He entered the novitiate on 9 October, 1826. The long course of studies resulted in his teaching philosophy for the space of eleven years, from 1837 until the Revolution of 1848 drove him to Malta.

On returning to Italy he was appointed to teach theology, but gave up his professorship to found and assume charge in 1850 of the Civiltà Cattolica, a periodical founded by the Jesuits to defend the cause of the Church and the papacy, and to spread the knowledge of the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas. Liberatore's chief claim to fame was to have brought about the revival of the scholastic philosopy of Aquinas, publishing his own course of philosophy in 1840. This movement he promoted in the class-room, by textbooks on philosophy, by articles in the "Civiltà Cattolica" and other periodicals, by larger and more extensive works, and also by his work as member of the Accademia Romana by appointment of Leo XIII. He attacked Rationalism, Ontologism, and Rosminianism.


[edit] Works

Sommervogel records more than forty of his published works, and gives the titles of more than nine hundred of his articles (including reviews) which appeared in the Civiltà alone. His works include:

  • "Institutiones Philosophicæ";
  • "Instructiones Ethicæ";
  • compendiums of logic, metaphysics, ethics, and natural law;
  • "Della Conoscenza intellettuale";
  • "Del Composto umano";
  • "Dell' Anima umana";
  • "Degli Universali";
  • "Chiesa e Stato";
  • "Dialoghi filosofici";
  • "Il Matrimomo";
  • "Roma e il mondo";
  • "Il Matrimonio e lo Stato";
  • "Le Commedie filosofiche";
  • "Spicilegio".

[edit] References

  • Civiltà Cattolica, series XV, t. IV, 352-380;
  • American Ecclesiastical Review (December, 1892);
  • Sommervogel, Bibl. de la C. de J., t. IV, c. 1774.

This article incorporates text from the entry Matteo Liberatore in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.